The present invention relates generally to a tray and slip sheet system used to transport aggregated bales of rubber. The system uses recyclable materials and eliminates the need of the use of wooden pallets during the transport of rubber.
The tray and slip sheet system provides a means for arranging aggregations of small rubber bales into larger rubber bales that can be stacked and transported without the fear of the larger rubber bales being fused together. The larger rubber bales can weigh up to 1.26 metric tons, and as is known in the industry, if rubber is stacked up on each other, after a certain period of time, the rubber will fuse together, provided that enough force is applied at the juncture of the stacked rubber bales.
Various patents have disclosed devices in which rubber is presently being transported and of the need not to use wooden pallets to transport rubber. Patents describing the devices are as follows: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,613,447, 5,881,651, and 6,490,982 all having been issued to Howard J. Trickett. Mr. Trickett has also applied for U.S. application Ser. No. 11/828,972, presently pending and having been published on Jan. 31, 2008. None of the patents or applications disclose a tray sheet and slip system that provides a means for thawing the rubber being transported, that prevents the rubber being stacked together from being fused, and that does not damage the packaged rubber when a forklift's forks are inserted between two stacked bales using the present tray and slip sheet system.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a tray and slip sheet system for transporting rubber that will provide a means for thawing the rubber being transported, that prevents the large rubber bales being stacked together from being fused, and that does not damage the packaged rubber when a forklift's forks are inserted between two stacked rubber bales using the present tray and slip sheet system.